A Trip to remember
by pretty.red.sailor
Summary: Post HSM 2, the Wildcats have just started senior year, and are on a school trip to Hawaii. Troy, Sharpay, Ryan, Gabriella, Taylor, Chad, Zeke and Kelsie are all sharing a room, cue embarrasing situations! Main pairings: Troypay;Ryella;Chaylor.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, this is my first HSM fanfic, so please be nice! lol! Just to make sure ya know, the sentences in italics are the character's thoughts, the pairing will be a bit of Troyella at the beginning, but mainly Troypay. Would be nice to get some feedback, so just let me know whatcha think!  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical, unfortunately! It's just one of my muses.  
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He opened the room door without pausing for thought, a mistake he soon realised when he heard the girlish shriek from inside.

"Jeeezus!" quickly slamming the door shut again, Troy stood in the hallway, face now matching the maroon wallpaper he leant against. With his eyes screwed tightly shut he banged his head against the wall, banishing the image of a bare-chested Sharpay from his mind.

"Sorry, I didn't realise anyone was in there," he mumbled through the closed door, eyes still wrenched together. _I am such an idiot! _

Sharpay hadn't yet moved from where she'd frozen, but a bikini top was now messily hanging around her, completing the swimsuit, and cold hands were working on the blush of her cheeks. She pushed her embarrassment away, marching stoutly, hoping her knees would stop shaking, and rammed forward the wooden doorhandle.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you to knock?" she spat. But no sooner had the scold left her lips that she faltered; she hadn't expected him to be standing so _close_! She'd almost caught his face with the door… almost. An angry stare was her intention but she could feel it slipping as she looked over the body in front of her. He had clearly just left the poolside; his hair soaked and ruffled, a drop of water fell off his fringe and ran down the bridge of his nose. He let it reach his top lip and then he licked it off… _oh god!_ A white t-shirt clung to his wet torso, every muscle defined… _why did he have to wear white_?! She shook herself and snapped up her chin. If there was ever a time to make use of her acting talent, it was now!

Troy shifted on his feet, carefully choosing where to look, eyes locked above her nose.

"I… I'm sorry," was all he could manage._ Pathetic! _

He rubbed the back of his neck and bounced his gaze between her forehead and the wallpaper, unable to form words. They stood for a more-than-awkward silent second before Sharpay cleared her throat, hands on hips.

"Just make sure there's no need for an apology next time."

He looked at her in the eyes then, and raised his brow.

"Meaning don't forget to knock first!" she elaborated, glaring. Then she returned to the bedroom.

As the door was closing on him, Troy spotted his target lying on the floor by the window and impulsively put his foot in the doorframe, stepping inside. _Man, you are pushing it now_… he cringed, wanting to turn and leave, but it was too late. Before Sharpay could say anything, he cut her short.

"I just.." he stuttered, nodding toward the window, "I need my towel."

She rolled her eyes at him. And then down him. Following the water droplets to his feet. _The lucky little drops… _

"Sharpay?" he broke her reverie. She put on a face, and complained,

"You're getting the floor all wet!"

"Well will you move aside then? So I can get my towel and get outta here?!" he sighed, he would have moved her himself, but it was too early after the… _incident_ for bodily contact just yet. She scoffed and sat on one of the beds. The door slammed shut as a breeze blew in from the window, and the teenagers both jumped at the sound.

"And would you shut the window? I don't want it to be cold when I get back," Sharpay added, none too nicely, lying down on the duvet.

"Back?" he glanced at her, but then forced his eyes away. Cheeks aflame. _Does she have to lay like that?_

"Yes, from the pool?"she twirled her finger around a strand of hair.

"Oh yeah, right." Troy kept his head down until he reached the window. He grabbed the frame and pushed…and struggled to close it. It took three attempts, so when he finally succeeded he grinned to himself, and flexed his back muscles, picking up his towel. Then another shriek.

Sharpay leapt off the bed and ran towards the window, but instinct told Troy to back away. An embroidered cushion then caught his eye,

"Hey!" he cried, "that's _my _bed you were laying on!" but was drowned out by Sharpay's shriller voice.

"And _my _bra you were trying to walk off with!"

He coloured again… _what??_ Sure enough, Sharpay pulled a black lace bra from the folds of his towel. She waved it in front of his eyes, he stumbled backward - a bed breaking his fall. He clamped his eyes shut again.

"I didn't know it was in there!" he was totally disarmed. _Why buy guns when lace bras will do the trick just as well… _he thought.

"That had better not be a smirk on your face, Bolton!"

"I'm just gonna go!" he stood quickly and brushed past her, and his arm brushed against her. She shivered but he hadn't noticed; concentrating only on his beeline towards the safe side of the door. He shut it with his back when he got there, and shrugged the heat away. _Enough embarrassment for one day… _

Sharpay stood in the bedroom, cursing her stomach for the butterflies it now housed. _I thought I was supposed to be over this! _She looked at Troy's bed, his duvet dented with her silhouette, fighting with the "be my valentine" cushion Gabriella had made, for the right to be on there. She shook the heat off her body and straightened the duvet cover._ This is going to be the longest school trip of my life!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Eeeek! Sorry guys, my internet has been down for aaaaaages! I've finally managed to get it working, so the next chapter should come along quickly! Sorry for the shortness of this one, but I'll post more really soon. Thanks to everyone who reviewed!! :D Hope you like this chapter, it's kinda just a filler before i get to the actual pairings, anyway, read and review! :D **

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Sharpay swallowed down the knot in her throat as she crossed the glass doors of the hotel, stepping into the outer pool complex. She hadn't had a chance to explore yet; and though making an entrance alone was usually a delight for her, the unfamiliarity of the place overpowered her confidence. Or at least, that's what she put the sudden attack of nerves down to. That and the earlier… _encounter _with a certain basketball-star-turn-poolside-god.

"Troy! Stop it! You're soaking my book!" giggled a voice from not far ahead, which made Sharpay's ears twitch.

She turned in front of a marble-topped pool bar, taking a second to approve of the gold lining around it, and stopped as a face matched the irritating sound she could still hear. She rolled her eyes. Sitting at a table with a large parasol, Gabriella was twirling a finger around a strand of hair, facing the boy hovering above her - a very wet boy minus one tight white t-shirt, with one great tan shown off in the sun.

Sharpay didn't allow herself more than a glance of muscle before forcing her legs into motion again, fearing they would melt. She put the image of Gabriella's face so close to Troy's out of her head, and marched past the couple, through the crowd of Wildcats, straight to the water.

No one had looked up when she appeared from behind the bar, and she couldn't see Ryan anywhere, but she was wearing her skimpiest bikini, (deciding to change for the third time after the incident with Troy) and an entrance had to be made.

With a huge splash, and a dive which was more "spur-of-the-moment" than "magic moment" (luckily, most people only looked up _after_ she dived) she stole the attention she wanted; all heads turned to the pool. And most importantly, Troy's head had removed itself from Gabby's lips. Job well done.

_ What the…? _Troy like the rest of them hadn't seen what had fallen into the water, but judging by the spray which hit him, he guessed it was probably a blue whale.

Little did he think how far his mouth would drop when first a head of shiny blonde hair emerged… _Oh…_then two petite shoulders… _my_… and finally a tight, pink, low cut bikini-clad torso…_god!!_

He sharply averted his eyes, knowing full well that in his case, the bikini really _did_ leave little to his imagination. He coloured and reached for Gabriella's iced tea, first pressing the glass onto his face, and then taking a long, steady gulp.

"Hey," his girlfriend nudged his arm, "get your own!"

"I'd certainly like to get _my _own," Zeke mumbled; a group of the guys had rushed to the tables to escape the splash, and were now all focused on it's cause.

"I'd like to get my own one of _those,_" he nudged his head toward Sharpay.

Troy spat out the drink in his mouth, choking on an ice-cube. Only Gabriella turned to pat his back; the boys remained entranced.

"Was she moving in slow motion for you too?" Jason sighed.

Zeke began to nod along, but with a mocking "are you crazy?!" from Chad, the fog lifted as suddenly as it had settled, and the Wildcats remembered who they were

talking about. The ice queen only ever moved quickly. Though she always had a knack for parting the waves…


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, here's the third chapter, it gets more Troypay towards the end. Again, I'm just kinda filling the blanks until I can get started with the fun stuff :D Thanks so much to you reviewers! You make writing this fun :D:D hope you enjoy this, let me know what you think!**

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"Okay, now that you're all here…I trust by the looks on your faces that you've had enough fun for the day, so, it's time to start the hard work!"

A request such as this could only be met with groans from the senior class. Miss Darbus had gathered the students in a private room within the hotel; most of them still wet and dripping from the pool, wrapped in towels and only half listening.

"Now now," she added, bemused at their lack of enthusiasm, "settle down! The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can dismiss you to your…_rooms_ for the evening." She repressed a shudder, remembering that on this occasion the students had been encouraged to book their own rooms, due to lack of school funds. The upside was that it meant each person was able to attend the trip. Unfortunately for the faculty, it also meant that the school had to turn a blind eye when the students booked mixed-gender suites. The flustered drama teacher put the thought out of her head, there was nothing she could do about the situation - so ignorance was bliss.

"Right, first I'm going to start handing around everybody's timetables, Sharpay and Ryan, you can help me - take half between you, but please people! Don't start reading them until I've finished speaking."

Sharpay and her brother stood up from the cushioned armchairs they had sunken into, trying to fake eagerness, but both already missing their seats. Miss Darbus caught the fall in Sharpay's brow and Ryan's stifled yawn however, and she scowled, turning to Jack Bolton, whispering,

"I don't understand why they're so uninterested! You would expect a trip to Hawaii to put a bounce in their step, I mean, for mercy's sake!"

"I think you stepped on their _bounce_ when you chose to use the words 'hard work' Maureen," winked Jack, with a smile on his face that Maureen only saw as a mocking smirk. She scowled again.

"Miss…?" called a small voice from the middle of the crowd of students.

"Yes… erm," she looked for the speaker's face, "Kelsie, there you are, yes, what is it?"

"What do the bits shaded in blue mean?"

At this, Coach Bolton rose from the desk he had sat on, wide grin forming. This was his cue.

"Those 'bits' Kelsie, signify sports leisure time," his grin was matched then by the Wildcats, and only Sharpay mirrored Miss Darbus' roll of the eyes.

"Each day, for a two hour slot, the school board recommended that we charge your bodies, instead of just your minds, and for that period, I've arranged a different sporting activity each day," he paused for effect while watching the twinkle in the basket-ball team's eyes, " and the first slot will be devoted to basket-ball."

The groans and cheers which followed sounded equally divided, but in reality Sharpay's voice just rang out far louder than the team's.

"The second day," he added quickly, staring pointedly at Sharpay and Ryan, "we will try our hands at golf."

There he paused again, and only silence filled the room, small smiles emanating only from the Evans twins… and the basketball captain. However, when the coach mentioned the third sport he had lined up, the whole student body erupted into excitement. White-water rafting.

"That enough 'bounce' for you?" Jack smiled at Miss Darbus again, but she remained as petulant as before. Sports weren't going to be the only interesting aspect of the trip, and she was determined to believe it so. Little did she realise how right she was.

"Troy!" Jack Bolton called; Miss Darbus was again attempting to silence the class, but it was taking longer than usual. Troy sighed a little and shut his mouth - this was the first problem with a parental chaperone, one of his dad's eyes was always on the other students, but the other eye was permanently on him. The _second_ problem with a parental chaperone arose when Gabriella started to stroke the back of Troy's hand with her fingers; he caught his dad's stare and uncomfortably shook Gabby off.

"Sorry," he mouthed, nudging his head in his father's direction, but not waiting for a reply before he turned to finally give Miss Darbus his attention. And then his view was blocked by a flash of hot pink quickly covered with a towel.

"Timetable," Sharpay said quietly, smiling but not looking at him in the eye. She held out the piece of paper; Troy followed her manicured hand along a bronze arm and over the smooth curve of her shoulder. There were three red lines on her neck, where he assumed she had been scratching; a small bite, probably mosquito, rested just above her collar bone. He smiled in return, not trusting himself to speak. _Why did I have to open that bedroom door??_

He took the timetable, and accidentally brushed her fingers with his own. The contact only lasted a second, but a lifetime of thoughts swirled around his head at that moment, though he couldn't even concentrate on one.

"Sorry," he whispered, as Miss Darbus looked over at the two of them, evidently eager for the timetables to be done with.

"It's fine," Sharpay mumbled, followed by something Troy couldn't quite hear. She turned quickly and stepped away with one last sheet to give out, then her face moved through a slit of light between the curtains and Troy blinked. _Was she blushing…??_ He almost smiled to himself, but then dismissed the idea. Sharpay never blushed, she was cool as ice. She hadn't even faltered when supposedly "chasing" him at Lava Springs. But then, Troy had never believed that she had actually liked him. It had been summer and she must have been bored. _No,_ he thought, _she definately hadn't been blushing._

"Now that you've all had a chance to look at your timetables, I'm going to put you in your groups of six."

Ryan held his sister's hand, confident, but not completely sure that they would be working together, and while his sister crossed her fingers with him, she also hoped that a certain someone would _not _be in her group. Or did that feeling at the bottom of her stomach mean she _did_ want him to be with her? Before she could decide, the names were being read out.

"Okay, in the Blue group, we have… Martha, James, Chad, Taylor, Kelsie and Jason." These students smiled and the girls hugged each other cheerfully.

"In the Pink group…" Ryan felt Sharpay's hand clench beneath his - the Pink group? Come on, that's _got_ to be us, he could sense her think.

"Sharpay, Ryan," they both squealed, "…Gabriella," the hand that had clutched Ryan's with anticipation now clutched it with something else, "Zeke, Jessie, and Troy."

It was then that Ryan jerked away his hand, if you could still call it that, though it now resembled a squashed claw. He nursed the blood back into his fingers and stared at Sharpay with one raised eyebrow and a half smile he couldn't hold.

"Erm… OW!" he cried. She composed herself and side stared, first at him, then over her shoulder at the couple sitting oh-so-closely together. Gabriella was brimming with giggles, and Troy was clearly so giddy he could barely look at his girlfriend - he just stared at the floor, every now and again smiling whenever Gabby nudged him.

Sharpay sighed inwardly, and looked again at Ryan. _At least I'm with my brother_, she thought, giving optimism a try. If only she had waited a second longer before turning to face the teachers again; she may have had a lot more to be optimistic about...

It wasn't a big gesture - but it was significant; in a moment of glee, Gabriella had smiled at Troy, lips pursed and ready, after checking that Coach Bolton was occupied elsewhere (which he was), then she had leant towards him, only for her lips to meet with his cheek as he had turned away at the last second. And then his eyes would have met with Sharpay's.

But she _had_ turned back, so his stare met only with her silky blonde hair.


	4. Chapter 4

**OKAY! Finally, here's the next chapter! Thanks sooooooo much to you reviewers, you make this worthwhile :D sorry if this next one's a bit crappy, i had to rush it :( read and review :D**

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"Dude! Hurry up!" Troy shouted back to Chad who was struggling to keep in pace; stumbling with trousers half way down his shins, bright blue swimming shorts in full view.

"Okay okay, keep your hair on! Gabby won't be going anywhere, they promised they'd wait."

Troy stopped running and leant sideways on the hallway wall, crossing his arms in front of him. A lamppost from the hotel gardens lit a faint glow through one of the windows, fortunately for the boys, who would otherwise have been running blind.

That afternoon, as soon as miss Darbus had finished her speech, the gang had found just enough time to plan a midnight dip in the pool before getting dressed for dinner. The complex would shut its door to the guests at 8pm, at which point the janitors would get to work, cleaning the area for another half hour. The pool lobby would be open during this time, but when that finally closed, the space would be free and unguarded until 1am. Then the doors would automatically lock.

It took no longer than 15 minutes for the girls to obtain this information from the "cute" bellboys wandering around the hotel, but it had taken Chad almost three times as long to find his swimsuit and sneak out of the room.

Finally, with his sweat pants slung over his arm, he caught up with Troy, and expecting him to instantly run off again, overtook him…while Troy remained glued to the wall.

"Who invited Sharpay and Ryan?" the question wasn't meant to insult, but it slipped from Troy's lips before he could think twice, as he saw the twins suddenly turn the corner he and Chad had passed a minute ago. He _had_ suggested sharing the midnight swim idea with the Evans' as soon as the plan was decided, but they had both disappeared somewhere since dinner, materialising only now, almost spookily from the lamplight.

Chad turned then and stood in shock, he and Troy on one side of the hallway, the Evans' on the other, now staring at each other as if before a duel.

"Um…" Troy spoke, breaking the quiet, glancing at his friend, then at Sharpay, whose expression was unreadable.

"What are you guys doing here?" she interrupted him, relaxing into almost a smile.

"We're um, on our way to the pool…" Troy answered, fidgeting wildly with the strings on his trunks. The run from the bedroom to the ground floor, past the few teachers who were still awake, hovering by the hotel bar, hadn't made Troy's heartbeat rise more than a few beats; he was a healthy boy after all, but now he felt the pounding quicken, and he heard it loudly, a thudding in his ears. Chad nudged him hard, thankfully, this seemed to help.

"Oh what a coincidence, so are we!" Ryan chirped, stepping across the floor to the boys, followed closely by his sister.

"I guess we'll join you," she grinned widely, pausing by Troy, then spontaneously linking her arm with his.

The move was something she would not have given a second thought to once upon a time, but things were a little different now… and as soon as their arms touched, she wished she hadn't been so bold. _Take it back! Move away! _her head yelled. She tried to step away, she really did, and if it was just her own stubborn Troy-craving arm which wouldn't budge, she probably _would _have moved away… eventually. But the arm which was locked firmly in place this time, was Troy's._ Oh no, he's clenching up, he must be annoyed at me. _

She felt him flinch, and she saw the look Chad gave when she sidled into her place. But Chad now put on a smile, however forced.

"Well, I guess…" he raised his eyebrows, sucking in his disappointment, "I guess it's off to the pool then!"

He and a slyly smirking Ryan began walking, with Sharpay and Troy stepping behind them; the hallway wasn't big enough for four to walk in one line. They were silent until reaching the glass doors, every now and again Chad looking behind at Troy, but neither he nor Sharpay were alert enough to notice the stares.

_Poor Troy_, Chad thought, _he's gone completely pale, I hope he doesn't puke!_

A sudden vibration hit him and he jumped, the two behind him walking right into his back.

"Woah, sorry, didn't realise you'd stopped," Troy laughed nervously, but Chad shushed him, taking his cell from his pocket.

"Hey Tay, we're just at the doors… yeah, I'm waving at you right now! Hellooooo! No, that's Ryan beside me… and um, Sharpay is here too…." then he quickly stepped aside and hushed his voice. Ryan looked at his sister apologetically; she wasn't stupid, she knew the others still held a grudge against her, but still… there was no need to be so _obvious_.

"So, it's not just you two then?" she asked Troy, biting her lip, and slipping her arm from his. This time, he let her go.

"Nah, Zeke and the girls are already at the pool, Chad was just late getting changed."

She nodded, biting her lip harder still.

"The girls?" Ryan's expression perked up suddenly, but it went unnoticed; the two beside him were both concentrating on only the floor. Troy replied without even looking up.

"Gabriella and Taylor."

"Okay then," Chad rejoined them, rubbing his hands together, "shall we?"

Stepping outside, the complex was unrecognisable from its busyness at daytime. The lifeguard station was empty, and the tables deserted. Only the sound of crickets and distant whispers could be heard, only the objects touched by moonlight could be seen, and everything had a silver glow. By the pool the rest of the gang appeared, a small group of four people, figures lit from the side instead of above; candles lined the path to their left, leading from the pool to the hotel cabins, through the forest.

_It's a shame Gabriella's here,_ Sharpay thought bitterly as Gabby ran to Troy, flinging her arms around his neck, _it would have been so romantic otherwise…_

"Here I cooooooooooooooome!" Chad's voice faded with the last few "o"s as he took a running leap, dive-bombing into the water. His girlfriend scowled as he hadn't noticed her outstretched arms before running past them. As he rose above the spray though, he blew her a kiss to compensate; she couldn't help but smile then.

"Nice!" Zeke shouted to him, "but not quite as sexy as Sharpay's dive this afternoon," he winked over at her, expecting to be met with a death-stare, but she hadn't even been listening. Chad aimed a killer though, defending the greatness of his dive. Zeke looked from him to Ryan, who had snapped _his_ eyes away from a certain brown haired girl in a red swimsuit, to defend his sister…and there his looks stopped while he made a mental note not to hit on Sharpay in front of her brother and the boy who hated her.

Little did he realise there was a third person he should watch out for, a person who had also glared at him for a completely different reason, but one he couldn't yet understand, who was so shocked at his own reaction that he immediately followed Chad into the pool to cool off.

"Come on the rest of you," the boys called from the water, "we haven't exactly got long!"

One by one, Zeke, Gabby, Taylor and Kelsie joined their friends, splashing so much the pool was nearly half empty when Sharpay and Ryan, after exchanging glances, finally decided to dive in themselves. When the water and the laughter had calmed, Gabby asked the question on everyone's minds.

"So, what now?"

"Well, we could always…" Taylor grabbed Chad's hair and ducked him under the water, inspiring Ryan to do the same to Sharpay, who hadn't expected it and took in a lung-full of water, squealing as she rose above the surface.

"Ooooh, dude, I bet that felt good," Chad remarked, receiving a huge splash. And then the war began; heads were dipped into the water and legs were pulled from underneath.

Sharpay made another impulsive decision, a chance for contact with Troy. She looked around frantically for his face, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Gabby was laughing with Taylor, but where was he?

She then felt the pull on her leg. She lunged her hands forward desperately, but only air came into her grasp; the force was too quick and she went under. Flailing her arms around wildly, too many bubbles in front of her eyes; she didn't see how close her fingers came to Troy's head until he caught her hand. It hurt to keep her eyes open, but he was staring at her so strangely that she bore the pain out of curiosity. They trod water for as long as they could, neither one moving closer nor further apart. _If we could only kiss right now we would never have to go back up…_ Sharpay felt the burn in her chest, and she kicked her legs and broke the surface, followed a moment later by Troy.

They both gasped for air. The others stared.

"So, anyone for a game of hide and seek in the forest?" Zeke suggested, and Gabby swam to her boyfriend, standing between him and the girl whose hand he had only just released.

"Sure," Sharpay agreed, _as long as we can hide Gabriella and never seek._


End file.
